The invention relates to a joint arrangement with a constant velocity ball joint, which is constructed as a counter track joint with a drive-side end and a driven-side end, an inner hub with first internal channels and second internal track grooves, and an outer hub, on whose interior surface the first exterior channels and the second exterior track grooves are alternatively arranged, so that each time the first interior track grooves are placed opposite to the first exterior track grooves and the second interior track grooves are located opposite to the second exterior track grooves. These channels always pair up with one another and form a circular cage, which is placed between the inner hub and the outer hub, runs on the inner hub and presents a window, in which the interlocking balls are run through the channels to achieve a torque transmission. These channels also feature a plunging element or displacement unit which is designed as a mechanism of rolling elements that allows shifting movements along a longitudinal axis and produces a torque transmission on interior channels and exterior channels that extend parallel to each other.
A joint arrangement of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,617 (=DE 198 31 016). The displacement unit of this joint arrangement is thereby arranged inside the joint, so that the inner track grooves of the displacement unit are formed on a shaft pin or the like, while the outer track grooves of the displacement unit are provided in the inner surface of an approximately sleeve-like inner hub. Since this known joint arrangement the joint cage has an inner cage surface shaped as a hollow sphere, with which it is guided over a spherical exterior surface of the inner hub, the manufacture of the inner hub is particularly difficult and expensive. Therefore, the outer track grooves of the displacement unit must be formed on the interior surface of the inner hub, and the first and second inner track grooves of the constant velocity joint, as well as the cage guiding surface, must be formed with a high degree of precision on the exterior surface of the inner hub.
To reduce the production cost of the inner hub of such a joint arrangement, U.S. Pat. No. 6,306045 (=DE 199 11 111) suggests arranging the displacement unit and the joint axially one behind the other on a shaft or a displacement pin. However, as a result, the required axial installation space for the installation of such a joint arrangement is significantly increased, which is detrimental for certain applications.
US patent publication no. 2006/0166751 (=DE 102 48 372) discloses a counter track joint, which comprises an inner hub and an outer hub, between which a substantially annular cage is inserted. In both the internal hub and the external hub, track grooves are formed, associated respectively with each other in pairs, in which balls, received in the cage, are displaceably retained. The track bases of the paired channels of the inner and outer hubs approach each other in alternation starting from a first end of the counter track joint toward a second end and from the second end toward the first end. The inner hub comprises two elements which interengage each other in a claw-like manner in the assembled state, which lie substantially one behind the other along the axis of the inner hub, the first of which features the first inner track grooves and the second of which features the second inner track grooves.
In this known joint, the cage is inserted into the outer hub. For this purpose, the projecting webs arranged between the outer track grooves must be configured as cage guide surfaces. The production of the cage guide surfaces and outer track grooves with a high degree of precision in the inner surface of the outer hub can lead, in some special applications, to an increased manufacturing cost.